December 31, 2008 Edition

99th year and
looking ahead

With this 53rd edition, The Times Dispatch completes our 99th year and looks forward to beginning our 100th. As a new year begins, we will keep looking for ways to better serve our readers, both in print and online. In this quickly changing world, we want to continue to be a vital source to you for news and information.

However, before we move on, we thank you, our readers, as well as our advertisers, contributors and friends who make each edition possible. We are grateful to you, and I am also grateful to our staff for their extra efforts each week.

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It was gratifying to see a serviceman, just home a week from Iraq, come by the Red Cross bloodmobile to ask about donating blood. The bloodmobile was parked at The TD when the gentleman stopped by. Red Cross officials explained to him that he and others must be back in the U.S. for one year before donating. They explained to me that the Red Cross is a major supplier of blood to the U.S. military and that service men and women are always eager to donate.

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As in past years, there were many special Christmas events in Lawrence County this year. The events come one after another, and sometimes overlap, during those busy few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our people go to great lengths to celebrate the season with parades, outstanding concerts and other special community and church events, as well as holiday lights and decorations.

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I agree with several others who have expressed their thoughts on the recession or current state of the economy. There seems to be no one major factor, but several factors, that are way out of kilter and that have contributed to this recession. Reckless home loans, poor management of major companies and outrageous executive salaries and bonuses are just a few of the factors.

These are factors that happened beyond our corner of the world and over which we have little control. However, we can continue to act to make a big difference in our own communities and to help shape our own destinies for a bright and prosperous future.